"CA" and "Stabalizing"

[btwillis]

I am not a turner (sell some blanks) so I do not understand all your terms: What is "CA" and its purpose? How (and why) would you "stabalize" blanks? Try to learn a little something new everyday...says it keeps your mind young . Tnks, Ben

 

[artistwood]

CA is short for cyanoacrylate.....AKA........superglue! we use it as a very durable finish for our pens. it's hard, clear and shiney once polished. we stabilize blanks to keep the wood from falling apart while turning it. kind of like forcing a hard glue all the way thru the wood. if you add dye to the stabilizer, you can dye a piece of wood at the same time. there is currently a thread going on where some folks are testing a new wood stabilizer. look for the bottom of the forum where they have reviews. hope this helps...bear

 

[leehljp]

Barry said it great.

For another picture on "stabilizing" think of a dried out corn cob. When stabilized, it is all corn cob with the voids filled with CA or other plasticized medium AND the corn cob's soft material itself is saturated and hardened. In this state, it is easy to turn.

Soft woods tear out real easily with scrapers or the skew when used in the scraper mode. By stabilizing the soft woods, they will be harder material and easier to turn.

A few woods will "bleed" over to - or "absorb" colors from other woods when two colors are glued to each other. Stabilized with CA or professionally - will help prevent or lessen this effect. This is probably the least used purpose of stabilizing but some try it on occasion.

 

[btwillis]

Thanks to both of you...gives me a better insight into what makes a good blank. BW